Fire-alarm system.



C. Z. SII/HTH.

FIRE ALARM SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31,1915.

IPen'Ied Aplr. III, WIT?.

'CHARLES ZELL SMITH, 0F SOUTH BETHLEHEM, NEW YORK.

FIREALARM SYSTEM.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 1141 2191*?.

Application led March 31, 1915. Serial 1U o. 19,217.

To all lwlwm t may concern:

Be it known 4that I, CHARLES ZELL SMITH, of South Bethlehem, in the county of Albany, and in the State of New York, have invented a' certain new and useful Improvement in Fire-Alarm Systems, and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates particularly to an automaticsystem of fire alarms, and which is adapted to be operated manually, as well as automatically, and which has other features and advantages set forth hereinafter.

The object of my invention is to provide a lire alarm system in which the apparatus will work normally an'd entirely automatically in such a manner that the occurrence of a fire in anyone part of a building lwill result in giving an alarm at a number of other di'erent placesin the same building or elsewhere, and in which, at the same time, if desired, an alarm can be given manually at any time, as for example, in the case where the fire has just begun but has not progressed far enough to start the automatic alarm. A further object of my invention is to provide an apparatus of this character in which the apparatus may be tested at will in its different parts and from a central location.

While my invention is capable of embodiment in many different forms, for the purpose of illustration l have shown only one form thereof in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is an eleyation partly ini section of a circuit closingldevice used in my system;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a mechanical part used for producing a repeated alarm;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same; and

Fig. 4 isa diagrammatic representation of the whole system.

ln the drawings, ll have shown two terminals, one -of an electric circuit which-extends from binding posts to the interior ofy a heat closed tube 3, in which there is provided a body of mercury 3, in such a manner that when the heat causes the mercury 38 to expand, the circuit is closed between the two terminals 1. The tube 3 is preferably inclosed in a metallic cage 4 wh1ch 1s secured to the face of a plate 5 on which the binding posts 2 are carried. The closing of the circuit by connecting the termin/als l and 2 through the expansion of the mercury 3a results in supplying current to an electric motor 6 having a casing 7, carrying binding posts 8 located in a box 9, of electric conductive material insulated from the motor casing 7. On the shaft of this motor 6 there 1s a gear 10 which meshes with a train of speed reducing gears 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 carried upon shafts 17, 18 and 19 supported in the box 9. The last of these gears 16' is arranged to rotate a gear 2O carried by a shaft 21 in the box 9, and having a plurality of lateral projecting pins 22 preferably arranged in a number of independent groups, which pins are designed to contact with a spring contact 23 carried upon an insulating bar 24, within the casing box 9. One terminal of the alarm circuit is connected to the spring contact 23 and the other end to a termial post 24a on the box or casing 9. As shown in Fig. 4 the source of current is a battery 25, which is connected by a wire 26 having branch wires 27 and 28 to automatic heat actuated circuit closers 29'and 30, constructed as already described, and as shown in Fig. 1. The heat actuated circuit closers 29 and 30 are connected respectively by wires 31 and 32 to motors 33 and 34, which are operated in the manner already described and shown in Figs.'2 and 3, and which receive current from the wires 31 and 32 through brushes 35 and 36. Current is conducted away from the motors 33 and 34 by brushes 37 and 38 and wires 39 and 40, which lead to a wire 41 connected to the other side of the battery 25.y Manually operated circuit closers 42 and 43 are provided in the neighborhood of the heat actuated circuit closers 29 and 30, which manually operated circuit closers are introduced respectively in wires 44 and 45, the ends of each of which are connected to the two terminals of the particular circuit closers 29 and 30 with which they are associated, so as to close the circuits manually when desired, soas to give the alarm before the heat will be suicient to close the circuits in the heat actuated circuit closers 29 and 30. Furthermore, at the prin cipal station where the alarm is to be sounded, and where the apparatus is to be tested, there are located manually operated test switches 46 and 47 located in wires 48 and 49 respectively, which wires are connected respectively to the terminals of the heat actuated circuit closers v29 and 30. As already described, each of the motors 33 and k34 has the necessary mechanism for actuating av train of gears, and thus closing an alarm circuit through the pins 22. In the case of each of the motors 33 and 34, the closing of the alarm circuit by the rotation of the pins 22, has the effect of ringing a number of bells 50, 51 and-52,l the first of which bells is preferably somewhat larger than the others and located at the main alarm station in the neighborhood of the test switches 46 and 47. The bells 50, 51 and 52 are connected by wires 53, 54 and 55 to a wire 56 which leads to one pole of the battery 25, and the bells 50, 51 and 52 are furthermore all connected together from the remaining terminals by wires 57, 58 and 59. The remaining connections are made by prolviding a wire 60, which leads from the other vpole of the battery 25, and which has branches 61 'and 62 leading to the casings containing the respective motors 33 and 34. Preferably, each one of the rooms to be protected, as for example, each, room in a particular building, is provided with one of the heat actuated circuit closers and one of the motor alarm circuit closers, as well as one `not necessary, but .where preferably there is someone on watch to take note of any alarm that occurs. In this connection, for exam le,

it will vbe understood that the heat actuatlng circuit closer 29, the manually operated circuit closer 42, a motor 33 and the bell 51 would be in one room and the heat actuated circuitcloser 30, the manually operated circuit closer 43, the motor 34 and the bell 52 would be in another room, while the bell 50 and the two test switches 46 land 47 would be at the central station.

In the operation of my invention, if a fire starts in any part of the building, or in any one of the protected rooms, the alarm is given automatically by the closing of the circuit between the terminals by the expansion of the mercury 3a thereby actuating the corresponding motor 6, moving the tram of reducing gears connected thereto and closing the alarm circuit, which contains the terminals 23 and 24B. In case the circuit has been closed in this manner in motor 33, for example, an alarm is simultaneously given in all the rooms by ringing the bells 50, 5l and 52. The' ringing of the alarms continues until the fire is extinguished and the mercury recedes in the tube 3, when the parts are automatically restored to their original condition. If at any point a fire should start, and come to the att'ention of someone before sufficient heat had been generated to close the circuit between the terminals 1 by the expansion of themercury 3, the circuit couldbe completed at will by operating one of the circuit closers 42 or 43 and thus ringing all of the bells in the same manner as beaaaass fore indicated. The ringing of the bells would continue until the manually operated circuit closer would be again opened, as for example, after the lire had been extinguished.` 4

The condition of the system can be determined at any time from the central station by operating either one or the other of the test switches 46 and 47, the effect of which is to operate the bells as before described. As soon as the test switch, which has been closed, is again opened the alarm immediately ceases ringing and the parts are again in their original position.

In this way it will be seen that whenever a re occurs in one of the protected rooms, an alarm is immediately given to all of the re- -maining parts of the protected structure.

At' thevsame time,-When desired, the manual alarm canbe .sent in without disturbing the condition of the apparatus, and without awaiting for the re to increase suiliciently to actuate one of the heat actuated circuit closers. Furthermore, the condition of the apparatus may be tested whendesired from the central station. Y

While I have described my invention above in detail, I wish it to be understood that many changes may be made vtherein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In an alarm system, a series of alarms located at diierent points, a series of circuit closers operated at 4said points, and means for actuating all of the alarms from any one of the circuit closers, comprising a series of motors located at said points, having rotary circuit breakers to actuate the alarms.-

2. In an alarm system, a series of alarms located at different points, a series of heat actuated automatic circuit closers operated at said points, and means for actuating all of the alarms from any one of the circuit closers, comprising a series vof motors located at said points, having rotary circuit breakers to actuate the alarms.

3. In an alarm system, a series of alarms located at dierent points, a series of heat actuated automatic and manually operated circuit .closers operated at said oints, and means for actuating all of the a arms from any one of the circuit closers, comprising a series of motors located at said points, having rotary circuit breakers to actuate the alarms.

4. In an alarm system, a series of alarms located at different points, a series of circuit closers operated at said points, lmeans for actuating all of the alarms :from any one of the circuit closers, ycomprising a series ,of

motors-located at said points, having rota'ryd Y Laaaaaa 5L ln an alarm system, a series of alarms located at different points, a series of heated actuated automatic circuit closers operated at said points, means for actuating all of the alarms from any one of the circuit closers, comprising a series of motors located at said points, having rotary circuit breakers to actuate the alarms, and a central station having an alarm and a test switch adapted to test the operation of' the 'alarms of the system.

6. ln an alarm system, a series of alarms located at dierent points, a 'series of heat actuated automatic and manually operated circuit closers operated at said points, means for actuating all of the alarms from any one of the circuit closers, comprising a series of motors located'at said points, having rotary circuit breakers to actuate the alarms, and a central station having an alarm and a test switch adapted to test the operation of the alarms of the system.

ln testimony that ll 'claim the foregoing ll have hereunto set my hand.

CHARLES ZELL SMlTH.. Witnesses:

ARTHUR WRIGHT, IM lai-AN ll. Dnnrrsnr. 

